


100 ways to say "I love you"

by GayDownworlder



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff, One Shot Collection, Toltzy, toltzmann
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-19
Updated: 2016-10-15
Packaged: 2018-08-09 20:39:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 3,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7816375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GayDownworlder/pseuds/GayDownworlder
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a collection of one shots regarding the prompt "100 ways to say 'I love you'", because the world needs more Toltzmann.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. “I saved a piece for you.”

Holtzmann placed the welding torch next to the just-finished project and stretched her arms above her head. “Didn’t take that long after all”, she mumbled and started trotting towards the dining area. She was ravenous. A bit surprised she noticed how quiet it was- during dinner time the air was usually filled with chatter and laughter from the others.

Slightly suspicious she opened the door to the kitchen, finding it almost empty- only Patty was sitting at the table, reading. She looked up when she heard Holtz enter and smiled. “Look who decided to show up after all.”

Holtzmann tilted her head. “Where are the othe-“, suddenly she spotted an empty pizza box and let out an indignant cry. “You guys started without me? And finished it all?!” Patty put her book down and shrugged somewhat apologetically. “Holtzy, we called you three hours ago...” “But-!” Holtz deflated, casting a longing look at the empty box. “Dammit.”

Patty stood up and pecked her pouting lips, then grabbed a plate from the fridge. She put it in front of Holtzmann with a wink. “Don’t worry baby, I saved a piece for you.”  


	2. “There is enough room for both of us.”

It had been one of their easier busts, a class two entity had haunted the local supermarket, throwing groceries at the horrified customers. The Ghostbusters stepped out of the shop after catching it and while doing so they attracted more attention than usual. That might be due to the fact that the four of them were covered in a sticky egg-flour mixture. 

“At least it didn’t get just me this time”, Erin said amusedly. “It better comes off easier than the shit you usually get bathed in- I feel like a cupcake or something”, Patty answered drily, rubbing the mixture between her fingers. “You taste way better though”, Holtzmann winked suggestively and Patty couldn’t help but chuckle while the other two groaned. “Keep it PG-13 around us, please and thank you”, Abby proclaimed with a shake of her head. 

In the firehouse were two bathrooms, one on the first floor used by Erin and Abby and one on the second floor used by Patty and Holtzmann (for obvious reasons). When Patty followed Holtz up the stairs she inwardly cursed the rotation system they had put in place, as she had been the first one to use the shower last time. With a resigned sigh she went past the bathroom door, when Holtzmann grabbed her wrist. “There’s enough room for both of us, c’mon.” Patty hesitated, it would be quite cramped but she could put up with that as long as she got the stickiness off her. “Alright, but no funny business!” Holtz batted her eyelashes innocently. “I would never.” 

Of course she would and she did. In the end Patty didn’t complain though.


	3. "Can I hold your hand?"

“I’ll be back in a few!”, Patty called, about to go and retrieve their lunch from the nearby diner, when Abby stopped her. “Wait a second, would you take Holtz with you? I’m pretty sure it’s been days since she’s stepped a toe outside her lab.” A fond smile graced Patty’s lips. “Good idea.”  

It was easier than expected to drag Holtzmann outside where she stretched her arms above her head, squinting at the sunlight. “It’s so much brighter than I remembered!” Patty snorted, amused despite herself. “You’re such a dork, Holtzy.” “Why, thank you for noticing, my dear Patricia!”, Holtzmann grinned, doing an exuberant bow.

For a while they walked in comfortable silence before Holtz broke it by mumbling: “Can I hold your hand?” She was smiling bashfully which was completely untypical for her. Patty gave a smile of her own and intertwined their fingers. “Sure thing, baby.”   


	4. "Don't cry." (1/2)

“We got him!”, Holtzmann shouted triumphantly, as the four of them pushed the humanoid ghost towards the opened trap. He snarled murderously while throwing the nearest object towards the blonde Ghostbuster as a last act of defiance before he finally vanished inside the trap.

People always said that such things happened in slow motion, but it didn’t. It happened fast- too fast to react, too fast to dodge, too fast to do anything. The glass shard had sped through the air like a bullet and hit its target in a blink of an eye. Holtzmann’s mouth formed a surprised “oh”, when she slowly looked down at her stomach, and the glass protruding from it. For a second everything seemed to stand still, as if someone froze time. Then blood started to spread around the fragment, a horrifying contrast to her beige overall. “Well, shit”, she croaked, tumbling to the ground.

“NO!”, three voices cried out in unison, all dashing towards their fallen comrade. Abby ripped part of a curtain from the window and carefully put it around the shard, knowing that the glass had to stay inside for now, no matter how cruel it seemed. Patty took off Holtz’ proton pack and gently lifted her up. “You’re gonna be alright, baby. Just stay with us, yeah?” Holtzmann attempted a grin. “You won’t… get rid of me that… easily.” Patty smiled back, whereas slightly forced as she had caught a glimpse of blood-stained teeth.

Once they reached the Ecto-1, Patty climbed into the backseat, never letting go of her injured girlfriend. Erin started the car immediately, enabling the siren and drove at a speed that any other day would have made her cling to the door handles. Abby, driving shotgun, kept glancing back. “You have to increase the pressure, even if it hurts her. The bleeding has to be kept to a minimum.” It sounded calm and collected, almost clinical, which was kinda funny because she felt like she was falling apart inside.

Patty didn’t look up but pressed the cloth down harder onto the wound, eyes widening at the seemingly never-ending amount of blood soaking it. Holtzmann whimpered at the pressure, her eyes fluttering shut. „Hell no, Holtzy, stay awake, you hear me? Don’t you dare check out on me!” Patty’s breath hitched as the first tears started to fall. Holtz reached up with a shaky hand and caressed her cheek with a feather-light touch. “Don’t cry, patty-cakes.” There was the smallest of smiles on Holtzmann’s lips before her eyes closed once again and in that precise moment Patty knew that if the woman in her arms died, she herself wouldn’t be able to keep on living.

“You can’t leave me, Holtzy”, she whispered, tears now streaming freely down her face as she cradled Holtz’ limp body close to her chest. “You can’t, I need you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be a followup!


	5. "You don't have to ask." (2/2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a followup to "Don't cry" !

Patty, Abby and Erin were standing around the hospital bed, the worry for Holtzmann almost unbearable despite the doctor’s words. According to him it had been a very close call, yes, but she would recover completely without any lasting damage. It was just hard to believe him when the normally always energetic engineer was lying so still, when she was so _deathly_ pale.

Erin broke the tense silence first. “We should get cleaned up.” She shot a meaningful look at Patty, who was covered in the most blood. “What if she wakes up though?”, Abby objected, not loosening her white-knuckled grip on the edge of the bed. “You two go, clean up and bring my stuff later. I’m staying.” Patty’s voice was firm, not leaving any room for arguments.

Less than an hour later they were all devoid of Holtzmann’s blood, sitting around the hospital bed- Erin and Abby on one side, Patty on the other. They didn’t talk much, just kept their gazes on their injured friend and hoped for her to wake up soon.    

It took Holtz three hours and twenty-four minutes to open her eyes (not that anyone was counting) and instead of asking appropriate questions like “where am I”, “what happened”, she croaked: “Please tell me this place has salty parabolas.”

To say that the others were relieved hearing that, or anything really, out of her mouth would be an understatement. After they all took turns hugging her and each other, for good measure, Erin and Abby went to get a doctor, not lastly to give the remaining two some privacy.

Patty leaned forward and tenderly brushed a strand of hair out of Holtzmann’s eyes. “You scared the shit outta me, Holtzy.” “Sorry”, came the mumbled and slightly contrite reply. “Don’t be, just… try to heal up quickly. And no nuclear experiments until you’re completely recovered.” “Whaaat?! Not even a teeny tiny one?” “Forget it, not until you’re back to being 100%, got it?” Holtz pouted a bit before a mischievous grin spread across her face. “It’s pretty hot when you get all bossy like that.” “None of _that_ either.” “WHAT?!” Patty pressed a placating kiss on Holtzmann’s lips. “Okay, maybe some of that”, she conceded, amusement clear in her tone.  

The doctor entered seconds after, together with Erin and Abby. After a thorough checkup the doc concluded that Holtzmann had to stay for at least a couple of days so that her condition and healing process could be monitored. Holtz vocally disagreed; according to her, the boredom would kill her quicker than any stab wound ever could.

Unfortunately her friends agreed with the doctor (“Traitors.”) and she couldn’t expect any backup from them. “Fine!”, Holtz grumbled, crossing her arms like a petulant child. Then her eyes flickered towards the machines monitoring her vitals. Wouldn’t it be a shame if something were to… blow up?

“Holtzy, no.” “What?” The blonde wore her most innocent puppy dog expression which didn’t faze Patty in the slightest. “You’re not gonna set anything on fire, nor create some kind of explosion just so the hospital throws you out.” The doctor looked more than a bit alarmed hearing that and Erin hurried to reassure him. “She wouldn’t do that, don’t worry.” “I totally would.” “Holtzmann!”

While Erin and Abby tried to convince the doc that she was only joking, and to let her stay (as he had been seriously reconsidering that decision in the last few minutes), Patty grabbed Holtzmann’s hand and cast a piercing glance at her.

“Look, I know that most stuff is a joke to you, Holtzy. That’s fine, that’s just how you are. But you almost died, okay? I thought I’d lose you.” Her voice cracked and she cleared her throat. “I held you in my arms and you were bleeding so much, I thought-“, she interrupted herself again, wiping at her eyes. “I was so fucking scared, Holtzy.”

Holtzmann’s eyes were wide with regret at her earlier shenanigans and she turned her hand to grab Patty’s, squeezing gently. “I’m sorry. I won’t do anything, I promise. But…” She chewed on her lower lip, hesitating. “Can you stay with me tonight?” She felt a bit selfish requesting that but Patty just smiled. “You don’t have to ask.”


	6. “Close your eyes and hold out your hands.”

When Patty entered the lab to get ahold of her girlfriend she instantly knew something was up. Holtzmann was scrambling to her feet from where she had been sitting on the floor, a bright smile on her face. “Patty! My love, light of my life! What a wonderful surprise to see you here!”

“Okay, what did you do…?” Instantly suspicious, Patty looked around the room, expecting the remains of an explosion or a fire or something. She took some steps forward but Holtz hurried to block her off, hands raised in a surrendering manner. “WAIT! Let me show you something.”

“Show me what?” “Close your eyes and hold out your hands”, Holtz demanded, not able to contain her excited grin. “Holtzy, I swear to God, if it’s something dangerous or -“ “It’s not, promise. Don’t you trust me…?” Holtzmann did a marvelous impression of a sad puppy which Patty only rolled her eyes at. “Oh, for fucks sake”, she grumbled but did as she was told, although her posture was still tense, ready to bolt. She trusted Holtzmann with her life, she really did, but the engineer’s definition of dangerous differed vastly from her own.

A few seconds later something warm and fluffy was put in her hands and Patty gasped as it moved, quickly opening her eyes.  “What the-“ “Mrreow!” “-Fuck?!” Carefully she adjusted her hold on the little brown-striped kitten, which purred and nestled up to her hands. Holtzmann’s grin turned impossibly wider. “He likes you!”

Patty stroked the soft fur of the cat with her thumb. “He’s really cute but c’mon Holtzy, you aren’t honestly thinking about keeping him?” “Why not? There’s enough space and cats are super easy to care for!” “You can hardly take care of yourself and 90% of the stuff in here is lethal, that poor thing wouldn’t survive an hour!” “He could stay downstairs-“ “With Abby’s allergy? I don’t think so, baby.”

Seeing the heartbroken look on Holtzmann’s face Patty came up with an idea. “Yknow, my cousin has a cat already, I bet she’d love to take this guy in. He would have a nice home and you could always go visit him. What do you say?” After a few seconds of serious contemplation, Holtz nodded, her grin back, and rose herself on tiptoes to press a kiss on Patty’s cheek. “You’re the best.” “Don’t I know it.”  


	7. "Take my jacket, it's cold outside."

"Going out, getting new stuff!", Holtzmann shouted to no one in particular and Patty looked up from the shelf she was assembling, shouting back: "Take my jacket, it’s cold outside!"

Holtz barely slowed her purposeful stride. "It’s fine, I don't freeze easily! Also if I wanted to, I could take my own-" Patty had caught up with her then, catching her wrist with one hand and offering the olive-colored jacket with the other. "Just take the damn jacket, Holtzy."

Holtzmann's eyes went wide and her lips pulled into a bright grin. "Oooh! It's one of those girlfriend things, right?"

In lieu of an answer Patty just huffed (and definitely didn't blush, thank you very much) and draped the coat around Holtz’ shoulders, while shoving her towards the door. "Don't ruin it though, okay?", she added, recalling that the art of dumpster diving obviously wasn't the cleanest one.

"Let's say I would, hypothetically, could I keep it?" Holtzmann's eyes held a mischievous glint as she put her arms through the sleeves and Patty realized that maybe the whole thing had been a bad idea.

"Don't even think about it, Holtzy- I mean it." "Alriiiight..", Holtz drawled but her cheery wink didn't exactly come across as reassuring.

Patty watched her skip out of the door and sighed, a smile playing on her lips. Seemed like she would have to look for a new jacket then, but she didn't mourn the loss much- the sight of Holtzmann in her clothes was more than worth it.


	8. "I'm sorry for your loss."

“WHY would you do that, you asshole piece of trash?!” The earsplitting shout tore Holtzmann out of her latest work-frenzy. She looked around for the bearer of the voice confusedly, wondering what she had done to deserve such wrath- before she realized that Patty (of course it was Patty, only she had such a marvelous shouting voice), wasn’t actually screaming at her.

Holtz got up and stepped towards her seething girlfriend carefully. “Patty? Pat? My sweet pumpkin, love of my life, are you alright?” Patty was hunched over her laptop, furiously clicking the F5-button and refreshing the internet browser in the process. “I’m trying to buy this book at an online auction but some guy keeps outbidding me!”

Holtzmann took a seat beside Patty, placing her head on her shoulder to get a better look at the screen. “Thaaat’s a lot of money.” “It’s a rare edition!” “Well if that’s the case, bid again!” “You really think so?” “Hell yeah! It’s only five more minutes and you can’t seriously think about giving up to a guy that calls himself ‘womanhunter2000’??”  

“You’re absolutely right. Let’s do this shit.” Patty punched a higher number in, her face displaying fierce determination. Holtz grabbed her arm excitedly when the time went down and there was no other bid.

“3…2..1-!”

“NO!”, Patty shrieked, looking disbelievingly at the finished auction. She had been outbid during the last second. She huffed and shoved the laptop onto the table (even though she had been thinking about throwing it across the room). “God damnit.”

“I’m sorry for your loss, Pats”, Holtzmann mumbled and lightly stroked Patty’s neck with her finger, in an attempt to console the disgruntled woman a bit. “It’s fine, I just… Forget it. It doesn’t matter.” “You know, I could get the address of the guy and get the book- I’d fight him for you.”

Despite everything Patty couldn’t help but crack a smile. “I know you would, baby. But it’s okay, really. I don’t want to think about it anymore.” Holtz grinned mischievously and leaned close to Patty’s ear, whispering: “You know, I’ve been told I’m very good at distracting.”


	9. "Try some."

Patty rummaged around the kitchen cupboards. “There’s sweet pepper around here somewhere, I know it”, she mumbled and shot a contemplating look at the pot blubbering on the stove. Turning down the heat so the stew wouldn’t burn, she hurried to look for the certain someone who she was sure took the pepper (though she did not know why).

“Me? How do you get that idea, I wonder?” Holtzmann wore a wide-eyed, innocent expression which made her look all the guiltier. “C’mon, Holtzy, I got a stew cooking and you won’t get any if you don’t part with the pepper.” Holtz jumped up from her seat. “You’re cooking?!” “Well, yeah. You guys might be able to survive on take-out 24/7 but I need something home-cooked every once in a while.” “Can I watch?” “Sure thing, baby.”

Holtzmann grinned widely and grabbed the lost tin from under a dangerous looking metal contraption. Patty took it and held it warily between two fingers. “It’s not radioactive or anything, is it?” “Nah, it’s totally safe. I think.” Patty sighed but her lips curved up amusedly. “Good enough for once. Let’s go.”

Finally, Patty was able to put the finishing touches on their dinner and Holtzmann, who was sitting on one of the countertops, was watching her intently with a dreamy look on her face. “Looks almost as delicious as you”, she winked and Patty rolled her eyes good-naturedly. “Try some”, she offered generously which Holtzmann didn’t need to be told twice as she basically jumped at Patty, pressing their lips together.

“I meant the stew, you big dork”, Patty laughed and handed Holtzmann the sauce-filled cooking spoon. “Mhmm, quite tasty but I still stand by my original statement”, Holtz exclaimed, leaning in for another kiss however Patty stopped her with a regretful smile.

“Baby, as much as I would love to make out with you right here on this counter- Abby and Erin are waiting.” “Aw, man”, Holtz pouted but complied by grabbing the plates when suddenly Patty leaned close to her ear and whispered: “Don’t worry, the dessert will be for you only.”  


End file.
